England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Costessey St Edmund

The Parish

The parish of Costessey (pronounced for non-Norfolkers "Cossey") lies in eastern central Norfolk about 4 miles west of the city of Norwich. Costessey is a large village, grown substantially in recent times, lying in a meander of the River Wensum and bordered to its south by the Tud midway between the A1067 (Norwich to Fakenham) road and the A1074 formerly the A47 (Norwich to King's Lynn) road and just over a mile from both. At the time of this transcript Costessey was a distinct and separate village, today the growth of the city's suburbs has marched right to its door with the barest of green corridors between Costessey and its larger neighbour. Given its position in the Wensum valley Costessey's economy would have been a largely mixed farming regime, pastures in the valley bottom with arable on dryer slopes. Today little space remains for agriculture as housing advances across both field and meadow, the marshy ground still permits some cattle grazing. The Wensum drains the parish eastwards, joining the Yare to east of Norwich and thence to the North Sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Costessey is sited at around 10 metres above the sea, land rises out of the twin valleys to local heights of close to 40 metres in gentle terrain. Costessey parish was of a fairly typical size for its area, covering close to 3,000 acres it would have supported a population of around 1,100 parishioners. In Domesday times Costessey was held by Count Alan of Brittany and was a prosperous place, indeed, 21 ploughs, substantial meadows & woodlands and an impressive 4 mills with a share of a fifth made for a profitable holding.

The Church

St Edmund's church lies to the north of Costessey's centre on the western side of the lane leading across the Wensum to Drayton and very close to the Wensum itself. Much of the church dates from later restoration but there is clearly some Decorated style work present which dates the original mediaeval building to the early 14th century. Further work shown in both windows and southern porch date from Perpendicular times and are 15th century. A major restoration took place between 1886 & 1898 largely funded by the trustees of Norwich' Great Hospital whilst the brick top & lead spire to the northwestern tower were added in the 1930s. AS you head north along The Street the church sits behind a head height brick wall making it difficult to spot, a tight entrance on the southern side leads to a small car park. Sadly the church is tightly hemmed to its south by many mature trees making the better angles for sunny days out-of-bounds and creating a tricky subject to adequately capture.

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